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Great Wyrm
|rarity = Very Rare |casting_cost = |upkeep_cost = per turn |research_cost = |num_figures = |moves = * |melee = |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = +30% To Hit Merging Poison Touch 15 }} The Great Wyrm is a type of Fantastic Unit featured in Master of Magic. The Great Wyrm belongs to the Realm, and may be summoned using a Summoning Spell of the same name. The Great Wyrm is easily the strongest unit, and is by far one of the most powerful Fantastic Creatures in the game. Aside from an extremely deadly Poison Touch attack, the Great Wyrm's primary advantage is its ability to instantly move to any spot on the battlefield. The Fantastic Unit Physical Description A Great Wyrm is Master of Magic's equivalent to the fantasy staple of a Green Dragon - though it shares more in common with tunneling monstrosities like the Purple Worm or Sandworm. It is a long-bodied draconian creature, many times the size of a human being, clad entirely in thick green scales. The bulk of the Wyrm's body is hidden underneath the ground. Only its head and neck protrude above the ground in order to attack its prey. It is unknown whether the Great Wyrm has any extremities underneath the ground. The Great Wyrm is a . Attack Properties The Great Wyrm is one of the most powerful and useful Melee attackers in the entire game. Its bite delivers a strength attack, which is coupled with a bonus to give it an average of points of per attack. On its own this is easily enough to kill a lightly-armored Hero with one strike, or destroy an entire unit of experienced high-tier Normal Units. Furthermore, the Great Wyrm's bite is the single most Poisonous attack in the game, with a strength of 15. This means that whenever it does Melee combat with an enemy target, that target has to make 15 separate Resistance rolls. Each failed roll inflicts an extra point of on the unit! Depending on the target's Resistance score, this can potentially boost the Great Wyrm's average damage output per attack to almost points! Only units with an effective or Poison Immunity can be guaranteed to avoid suffering this extra damage. Defensive Properties The Great Wyrm's tough scales and incredibly thick skin offer it a full worth of protection, better than any other Normal- or Fantastic Unit. On top of that, it can absorb a massive before going down. In straight-up melee, it is more than a match for all but the most experienced heroes or heavily enchanted units. The Great Wyrm also possesses a Resistance score of , rendering it immune to all Unit Curses and ill effects that do not impose a Resistance penalty. Even those that do will still have reduced chance of causing the creature any harm. Other Properties Perhaps the most important quality of the Great Wyrm is its Merging ability. For the cost of 1 Movement Point, it can move to any tile on the battlefield. Thus, with its total movement allowance of , the Wyrm can move adjacent to any unit, attack it at a cost of 1.5 movement points, and then use the remaining .5 Movement Points to either retreat to safety, or deliver another attack. In this manner, it can engage enemy units in almost whatever order it wants. Only Ranged Attack units, or units who themselves can Teleport around the battlefield at will, may engage it regardless of its position. Although this ability does not work on the overland map, the Great Wyrm's Movement Allowance still exceeds that of most other units. Basic Tactics As stated above, in battle the Great Wyrm retains plenty of options. It can wipe out weaker enemy units one-by-one: moving adjacent to an enemy unit, destroying or seriously injuring it with its powerful poisonous bite, and then moving far away to avoid retaliations during the enemy's turn. It can try taking out the enemy's ranged units first (to prevent them from targeting it at a distance), then focus on bringing down the remaining enemy units at its own leisure. Exceptionally strong enemies who do not possess high Resistance or Poison Immunity can also be destroyed very effectively, and the Great Wyrm's high may keep it in battle despite fierce opposition. Enemy Great Wyrms Despite their great strength, Great Wyrms are remarkably common on both Planes, but especially on Myrror. They will usually be guarding high-powered , but sometimes even Towers of Wizardry or strong Encounter Zones. Any encounter with a Great Wyrm will likely end with the loss of the weakest ground units of an army (even if they are very strong units!), as the Wyrm simply tunnels up and takes them out first. Inexperienced or ill-equipped Heroes and Champions seem to be a favored target for this creature. The primary method of taking down a Great Wyrm involves the exploitation of ranged attackers and/or direct damage spells; these can whittle it down while avoiding its terrifying melee attack. Of course, Great Wyrms are usually accompanied by another monster type; several of the possibilities are quite effective against fliers on their own, but the worst is most likely the infamous Giant Spiders/Great Wyrm combo. Ability Overview +30% To Hit * This unit has an extra to hit its target with every die of its Attack Rolls. This improves its statistical chance to inflict more with each attack it makes. Merging * During its turn, this unit may instantly move to any unoccupied tile on the battlefield, using up only 1 Movement Point (or 0.5, if it only has that many points left). * There is no limit to the number of times the unit may Merge in a single turn - as long as it has any Movement Points remaining. Poison Touch 15 * Whenever this unit executes a Melee Attack or Counter Attack, it will also make a Touch Attack against the target, delivering 15 points of Poison Damage per attack. * The target unit must make 15 consecutive Resistance rolls. For each roll it fails, it receives point of . * The Poison Damage is dealt simultaneously with the exchange of Melee Damage between the two units. * This effect does nothing against targets possessing the Poison Immunity ability. The Summoning Spell Usage Great Wyrm may only be cast overland, for the base Casting Cost of . Upon successfully casting the spell, the new Great Wyrm unit will appear in the Town currently containing the Wizard's Summoning Circle, with full Movement Allowance, and may move and/or attack immediately as necessary. To keep the Great Wyrm in play, its controller is required to pay an Upkeep Cost of per turn. This is drawn automatically from the caster's pool at the beginning of each turn while the unit exists. Failure to pay this Upkeep due to lack of will lead to the Great Wyrm immediately disappearing, along with any Unit Enchantments currently affecting it. However, this upkeep is for the unit, not for the spell: Summoning Spells can not be dispelled by the enemy once cast. Naturally though, if the unit is destroyed, then it is gone from the world entirely, and there is no further need to pay its Upkeep Cost. Units summoned on the overland map may also be dismissed manually from their unit statistics window the same way as any other overland unit (during their controller's turn, while not in combat). Acquisition As a Very Rare Spell of the Realm, Great Wyrm may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbooks. With any less, the spell can normally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Great Wyrm to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with books), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master, Conjurer, and/or Nature Mastery Retorts; or a bookshelf containing or more. Great Wyrm may not be acquired at the start of the game, regardless of the amount of books selected from the starting picks. It must always be either researched or found. However, a bug exists in the official game, that may occasionally allow Great Wyrm to be researched with only books despite its Rarity. This can happen if, and only if, the second Spellbook comes from Treasure, as it then allows a random Very Rare Spell to be researched, which has a flat 10% chance of being this spell. This oversight is corrected in the Unofficial Patch 1.50. Known Bugs Great Wyrms show some unusual behaviour in combination with the spell . Since Great Wyrms are able to dig through the soil thanks to their Merging ability, one might expect that they are unaffected by the Cracks Call spell. In fact, computer players will avoid casting Cracks Call on enemy Great Wyrms. Great Wyrms can be killed by Cracks Call nonetheless. This bug was fixed in the unofficial Insecticide patch Category:Units Category:Fantastic Creatures Category:Nature